Many languages use a “body part tally system” where body parts function as numerals (see body part tally systems with a description). One such language is Angguruk Yali which uses a system that ends at the number 27. To circumvent this limitation, the Angguruk Yali translators adopted a strategy where a large number is first indicated with an approximation via the traditional system, followed by the exact number according to Arabic numerals. For example, where in 2 Samuel 6:1 it says “thirty thousand” in the English translation, the Angguruk Yali says teng-teng angge 30.000 or “so many rounds [following the body part tally system] 30,000,” likewise, in Acts 27:37 where the number “two hundred seventy-six” is used, the Angguruk Yali translation says teng-teng angge 276 or “so many rounds 276,” or in John 6:10 teng-teng angge 5.000 for “five thousand.”
This strategy is used in all the verses referenced here.
The name that is transliterated as “Moses” in English means “taken out of the water,” “saved out of the water,” “a son.” (Source: Cornwall / Smith 1997 )
American Sign Language also uses the sign depicting the horns but also has a number of alternative signs (see here ).
In French Sign Language, a similar sign is used, but it is interpreted as “radiance” (see below) and it culminates in a sign for “10,” signifying the 10 commandments:
The horns that are visible in Michelangelo’s statue are based on a passage in the Latin Vulgate translation (and many Catholic Bible translations that were translated through the 1950ies with that version as the source text). Jerome, the translator, had worked from a Hebrew text without the niqquds, the diacritical marks that signify the vowels in Hebrew and had interpreted the term קרו (k-r-n) in Exodus 34:29 as קֶ֫רֶן — keren “horned,” rather than קָרַו — karan “radiance” (describing the radiance of Moses’ head as he descends from Mount Sinai).
In Swiss-German Sign Language (and Hungarian Sign Language) it is translated with a sign depicting holding a staff. This refers to a number of times where Moses’s staff is used in the context of miracles, including the parting of the sea (see Exodus 14:16), striking of the rock for water (see Exodus 17:5 and following), or the battle with Amalek (see Exodus 17:9 and following).
In Vietnamese (Hanoi) Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the eye make up he would have worn as the adopted son of an Egyptian princess. (Source: The Vietnamese Sign Language translation team, VSLBT)
“Moses” in Vietnamese Sign Language, source: SooSL
In Korean Sign Language it is translated with the sign that depicts the arms held up by Moses to assure the Israelites victory over the Amalekites (see Exodus 17:11).
The Hebrew has no past tense verbs in these verses. From the book’s point of view, only verse 22 is bound to refer to the past. La Nouvelle Bible Segond uses the present tense in verse 21, and the past tense in verse 22. In some languages it may be possible to bring out the list character of the text here by leaving out verbs altogether.
Of Gershon were the family of the Libnites and the family of the Shime-ites; these were the families of the Gershonites: Verse 18 already refers to Gershon and his sons Libni and Shimei. As in verse 18, the Hebrew word for family and families (mishpachah) is better rendered “clan” and “clans” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, La Nouvelle Bible Segond). Although the literal rendering of Revised Standard Version may seem repetitive here, Good News Translation‘s less repetitive model is misleading, because it speaks of “The clan of Gershon.” However, there were two Gershonite clans, not one. Therefore Good News Translation should not be followed as a model here. If it is necessary to reduce the repetitiveness, Bible en français courant provides a better model, saying “Gershon was the ancestor of the Gershonites, [who were] divided into two clans, those of the Libnites and of the Shimeites.”
Their number according to the number of all the males from a month old and upward was seven thousand five hundred: The pronoun Their refers to the clans of Libni and Shimei. The Revised Standard Version footnote here mentions that the Hebrew repeats “their number.” Their number is better rendered “Their enrollment” (New Revised Standard Version) since the Hebrew word for number is the verb paqad (see 1.3, where it is translated “number”). The actual Hebrew word for number occurs in the phrase according to the number. Good News Translation expresses both the ideas of “number” and “enroll” here. For the possible meaning of the Hebrew word for thousand (ʾelef) as “contingent” or “division” at an earlier stage in the transmission of the Hebrew text, see the comments on 1.20-46. However, the present text no longer allows for this meaning since it adds up seven thousand five hundred and other high numbers in verse 39, so translators should keep the high numbers.
Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .
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